A book for WWII aircraft and modeling enthusiasts. Great little soft cover
which starts with the circumstances and people leading into the design,
development and prototype testing of the
P-51, arguably the most successful
allied fighter plane of that war. Not a page without a top quality black
and white photograph or funky color prints of war propaganda posters. Lots
of close up shots of technical details as well as factory layouts, assembly
line photographs, wind tunnel testing info, and gossip on the people
involved in this machine's inception. Well balanced writing, mixing
engineering info, historical snaps and human anecdote, ending in a short
chapter featuring a number of fighter aces who flew the Mustang. Made
for three satisfying evenings of reading. Give us more Michael O'Leary!
There can be few aviation enthusiasts who do not appreciate the fine lines and
historic exploits of
North American
Aviation's classic propeller-driven fighter: the Mustang. This book captures
the beauty and power of the aircraft in a series of stunning color photographs.

From the Publisher
The Osprey Color Classics series was born out of an overwhelming demand for
top-class aviation photography. These superbly illustrated books will appeal to
aviation enthusiasts everywhere.

Arguably one of the best P-51 Mustang photo books around at this moment, this
128-page book is crammed with good to very good color photographs of surviving
P-51 Mustangs. You will find most variants depicted here, such as an P-51A, an
A-36, a P-51B (The look-a-like of the famous 'Shangri La' of Don Gentile),
P-51Ds, a P-51H to the Cavalier Mk2s. Even the Piper Enforcer gets its share.
The only things missing for me, comparing this book to 'Spitfire, Flying Legend'
or 'Hurricane, a Fighter Legend' from the same publisher, were some more
background information and WW2 color photographs of the Mustang and photographs
of Mustangs operating in the Korean War.

The P-51 mustang is probably the most famous of all
of the Warbirds.

This airplane was manufactured by North American
Aviation during WW2. The plane took only 90 days to design and became
the worlds fastest propeller airplane, ever, setting all of the low altitude
speed records for propeller driven airplanes even today. 00093050009305ALT="Pre Built P-51 Mustang Mahogany Model" HSPACE=10 VSPACE=10 BORDER=2 height=352 width=250 align=RIGHT>There
are many of these airplanes still flying today at air shows everywhere.
This plane is also a favorite at the Reno Air Races at Stead Field just
north of Reno Nevada. Many Warbirds race at Reno every September.
The P-51 is 32' 3" long, 13' 8" high, and a wingspan of 37'. The
mustang weighs 7000 lbs empty and has a max weight of 12100 lbs.
It used two different types of engines, the Allison and the Rolls Royce Merlin which produced 1650 lbs. The racing planes, by contrast, pump
out over 4500 hp. The P-51 mustang had a max speed of 437 mph and
a cruise speed of 275 mph. The P-82 was a twin fuselage version of
the P-51, with two engines.

.Please
Note: The specifications on this page are only for a single model
of this airplane.